CHENNAI: To tackle the Covid-19 spread during the intense lockdown, the Chennai Corporation has introduced a home-quarantine monitoring system wherein volunteers will monitor those quarantined and cater to their basic needs. Addressing reporters here on Sunday, Corporation Commissioner G Prakash said around 4,000 volunteers have been appointed across the city and each volunteer will cover up to 15 streets.
“They will watch the barricaded houses daily and be at help in getting milk, groceries and other essentials so that there’s no need for those quarantined to step out,’’ he said. Apart from this, the city corporation has also appointed its school teachers to monitor the volunteers and have given power to the teachers to submit a complaint to the police if they come across people violating home quarantine.
“Currently, about 1,20 lakh households are quarantined. We will bring more houses in the network covering at least two to 2.5 lakh houses in the coming months,’’ said Prakash.He said that this monitoring strategy would be active for two to three cycles. “This will be there for the next two months till the spread is stabilised,’’ he said, adding that, the results are coming out well now itself.
Home-quarantine rules
The Corporation Commissioner said that people who have returned from abroad, positive people who voluntarily chose to stay home, those who are cured and discharged but no exit tests have been done, and the home contacts and extended contacts will have to undergo home quarantine. “People who took the RT-PCR test too must quarantine themselves for at least 48 hours till their results come,’’ said Prakash. He pointed out that in the coming days, at least eight lakh people will come under surveillance.
No shortage of beds
Prakash said out of the 17,500 beds available at the COVID care centers, only 3,000 have been occupied. “We will add more beds in Anna University and IIT-Madras. About 2,000 beds are expected to come here totally,’’ he said. He added that another 4,500 beds will be added at a Tamil Nadu Housing Board tenement in Ambattur.
Source: https://www.newindianexpress.com/cities/chennai/2020/jun/23/chennai-corporation-volunteers-to-watch-on-quarantined-people-2160109.html
